"What happens in Vegas"... Will likely end up on this site. Sorry, Las Vegas Chamber.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

From "Rebranding" to Crash Landing...

Here we go again. Once more, G-O-TEA politicians must pay the consequences of paying too much attention to the bullshit "words of wisdom" that drop from Rush Limbaugh's mouth. Once again, "El Rushbo" threw a temper tantrum over Jason Collins' return to the NBA courts and Michael Sam's possible entry into the NFL. And once again, G-O-TEA "playaz" are trying to turn Limbaugh's temper tantrum into actual legislation (and losing lobbying clients while doing so).

Oh, and speaking of actual legislation, Rush Limbaugh also had something to say about Arizona's SB 1062, aka Arizona's version of the "License to Discriminate" Bill. Surprise, he loves it! Surprise, he hates the "drive-by media" reporting on the real danger this bill presents. And surprise, he makes absolutely no sense when he claims Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) has been "bullied" over this bill.

We guess Rush Limbaugh would know, since he's the biggest bully of them all. And he's now stooping to new lows (even for him!) to promote the Koch-TEA Empire's greatest legislative masterpiece yet.

Unfortunately for him and other fans of "legalized" wrongful discrimination, the rest of America doesn't feel the same way. The NFL threatened to move the Super Bowl out of the state if SB 1062 had become law. And now, we know Governor Jan Brewer (R) just vetoed it. So there we have it...

Except that's not all. While Arizona faced a potentially horrendous anti-LGBTQ statute, Texas faced a potentially paradigm shifting courtroom decision while California faced one fewer ballot initiative this year. In California, proponents of a ballot initiative to overturn a new law guaranteeing civil rights for transgender students failed to gather enough valid signatures to place this initiative on the 2014 ballot. And in Texas, a federal judge just struck down Texas' marriage ban. Just as we've been saying here for some time, H8 is so outdated and marriage discrimination has no legal leg left to stand on... Not even in Texas.

Meanwhile closer to home, the Nevada Republican Party continues to struggle with acceptance of the 21st century. After State Senator and Lt. Governor candidate Mark Hutchison (R-Las Vegas) boasted of his cosponsorship of SB 192 and Governor Brian Sandoval's (R) support for his bill, Sandoval himself then rebuked his own favored running mate Senator Hutchison and promised to veto anything resembling SB 1062. And that would have meant a veto for the original version of SB 192 that Hutchison supported.

Once again, we're seeing the result of all that "Republican rebranding". And what's the result? Just take a look at California, Arizona, & Texas. Republican "leaders" are struggling to save face as their own base demands more and more extreme legislation... Along with a divorce from 21st century America. And funny enough, they're the ones claiming to "defend family values & traditional marriage". Yep, those Republicans are enjoying quite the "rebranding" lately...